[27][28] The Comptroller is also by law a member of the board of trustees of the State Employees' Retirement System (SERS), the independent state agency that administers public pensions for legislators and their staff, the judiciary, executive branch officials, and the professional civil service.

[29] The late Judy Baar Topinka was a moderate Republican first elected in 2010 and subsequently re-elected in 2014 to a second four-year term as Comptroller.

[31][32][33] Munger was then defeated by Susana Mendoza in the 2016 special election to fill the remainder of the term through 2018.

[34] In 2011, Comptroller Topinka and the Treasurer, Dan Rutherford, introduced legislation to allow voters to decide whether the offices should be merged.

[35] The legislation was opposed by Michael Madigan, Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, and did not become law.